Special issue “Récits et fictions du terrorisme”, Revue des sciences humaines 359 (2025).
Narrative processing of the 2015 terrorist attacks
This special issue of Revue des sciences humaines This volume brings together contributions that emerged from a colloquium held in Paris from November 15 to 17, 2023. The central question is how French society processes the 2015 terrorist attacks through narratives—be they testimonies or fictional works. The issue offers a fundamental exploration of the narrative, ethical, and psychological challenges that terrorism poses for literature and society.
Map of the terrorist attacks of November 13, 2015 in Paris, Wikimedia.
The introduction by Alexandre Gefen and Denis Peschanski outlines the twofold interest of the volume: On the one hand, literature serves as a seismograph, capturing the state of societal values and sensitivities in the face of crisis. On the other hand, it analyzes the specific literary and non-literary means employed to cope with these events.
The editors note that the literary response to the 2015 attacks—much like the reckoning with 9/11 in the US—is a crucial milestone in contemporary cultural history. They emphasize the diversity of these responses, ranging from testimonies (Philippe Lançon, Luz, Catherine Meurisse) to novels (Mathieu Riboulet, Emmanuel Carrère, Karine Tuil, Yasmina Khadra, Yannick Haenel). An important point of reference is the transdisciplinary research program. November 13th, which collects hundreds of witness statements to document the individual experience of the traumatic event.
Key questions addressed in this issue include: the temporal dimension of textual creation; the conceptual and critical categories that must be mobilized for interpretation; the role of fiction and testimony in society; and the ethical challenges for survivors who speak out. The relevance of literature lies in its recognition of society's increased vulnerability (including on a legal level, for example, through the acknowledgment of psychological trauma). The autobiographical narratives demonstrate how writing becomes a means of "re-stitching" individual memory and restoring personal coherence after profound trauma.
A recurring theme is the connection between traumatic experiences and literature. Here, the importance of narrative processes for maintaining identity continuity and coherence is emphasized (as in the contribution by Eustache et al.). The collective and generational dimension of trauma, which leads to spontaneous solidarity, is also explored.
Particular emphasis is placed on the examination of the "V13" trial (the court case concerning the attacks of November 13, 2015), which Emmanuel Carrère transformed into a literary event. This focuses on the delicate boundary between legal and literary truth, the visibility of the victims, and the role of the trial as a space of memory and a site for the collective transformation of trauma.
In conclusion, the editors raise ethical questions: Violence forces literature to redefine its functions and boundaries. This leads to fragmentary, non-linear, or metadiscursive narrative forms that seek to express the unspeakable nature of terrorist trauma. The ethical challenge of representing the terrorists' perspective is also discussed, highlighting the danger of problematic identification with the perpetrator. Literature thus functions as an alternative space in which marginalized memories, or those missing from official narratives, can become visible.
Reading the individual articles
Lucie Da Costa Silva, Lucie Quibeuf, Francis Eustache and Peggy Quinette, Approche narrative du traumatisme: récits du terrorisme
This paper uses a narrative approach to examine trauma and autobiographical memory in the context of terrorism, based on the interdisciplinary study 1000. Programme 13-NovembreIt is explained that traumatic events can hinder the formation of coherent memories and narratives, as sensory-perceptual processing overshadows the cognitive integration of contextual and narrative information. High levels of disorganization in trauma narratives are associated with increased avoidance symptoms. Initial analyses of Study 1000 showed that directly exposed individuals (Circle 1) used the word "trauma" more frequently. Survivors with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) were found to use more words relating to social and familial contact. The research aims to identify predictors of adaptive recovery or psychological distress and to elucidate the mechanisms by which terrorist attacks are, or remain, integrated into life stories and identity construction. Changes in individual memory and identity, particularly at the familial and community levels, as well as in values and beliefs, are expected to be observed.
This article provides an empirical and psychological framework for the literary exploration of trauma. It substantiates literary studies' observations (such as narrative fragmentation and incoherence) with neuropsychological and linguistic data and demonstrates the fundamental importance of narrative identity for psychological adaptation after a terrorist attack.
Christophe Corbin, Le djihad en France: a phénomène générationnel?
Corbin examines fictional texts (including those by Pascal Manoukian, François Vallejo, and Julien Suaudeau) that attempt to explore the mechanisms of Islamist terrorism and question whether jihadism in France can be understood primarily as a generational phenomenon or simply a thirst for adventure. Many authors suggest that young people join the jihad because they experience a lack of meaning, adventure, and intellectual engagement in a Western society perceived as decadent. The fictional works function as an intellectual bulwark, combating fear and attempting to name and understand the phenomenon. Suaudeau (in French) reverses the binary opposition “them against us” by stating that the terrorists are a product of French society itself (“We are their… We are the weeds”).
This article examines the role of fiction as a tool for understanding and prevention in the face of radicalization. It contributes to the ethical debate by demonstrating how literary works attempt to explain the motivations of perpetrators without justifying them, thereby addressing the responsibility of French society for the failure of integration.
Marie Chagnoux, Ombre et lumière, la construction médiatique des figures des récits des attentats du 13 November 2015
Chagnoux examines the construction of media memorial figures after the attacks of November 13, 2015. Based on the format of Portraits of grief as New York Times In the aftermath of 9/11, French media used "mosaics of memory" to make the individuals behind the statistics visible. This process, however, is characterized by a filtering mechanism. Visibility (mediageny) often depends on rhetorical or photographic qualities, but above all on axiological mediageny: the ability to crystallize societal values (e.g., "remaining steadfast in the face of grief" or "rejecting hatred"), as in the case of Antoine Leiris or Aurélie Silvestre. This media narrative is not neutral, but rather often ascribes archaic roles to the victims (e.g., "Marie and Mathias" as a tragic couple in the pantheon of Pyramus and Thisbe). The result is a partial and selective collective memory that illuminates certain victim figures while marginalizing or symbolically reducing others (e.g., male "heroes" versus female "victims").
This article provides a critical analysis of the influence of media narratives on the construction of collective memory. It demonstrates the tension between individual experience and media stylization, which literature often attempts to correct or transcend.
Aurélien Berset, Philippe Sollers, the captagon and the hashischains: a double fiction?
Berset dissects Philippe Sollers' portrayal of terrorism in a 2015 interview, in which Sollers compares the Bataclan attackers to the medieval legend of the "Assassins" (hashish eaters). Sollers bases his interpretation on the alleged use of the stimulant Captagon by the jihadists and his own drug experience in the 70s. He explicitly invokes literary predecessors such as Rimbaud and Baudelaire, who also explored the connection between drugs and poetic ecstasy and violence. Berset demonstrates that Sollers' explanation is based on a "double fiction": the Orientalist myth of the hashish assassins (which repeats the historical error that these murderers acted under the influence of drugs) and the media legend of the Bataclan perpetrators' Captagon use (which has been refuted by autopsies). Sollers' focus on the psyche of the perpetrators, without considering the victims, is discussed as ethically questionable.
This article examines the dangers of mythological overemphasis and the ideological instrumentalization of terrorism narratives in contemporary literature and journalism. It demonstrates how the need for simple explanations can lead to the reactivation of old fictions, even when these are historically and factually inaccurate.
Christine Baron, Terrorisme et vulnerabilities. A new paradigm juridico-politique?
Baron analyzes the emergence of vulnerability (vulnérabilité) as a central socio-political paradigm following the 2015 attacks. The terrorist acts have altered collective consciousness and established a “culture of fear” (Moïsi) in Western societies, which now seek protection rather than change the world. This vulnerability manifests itself in law through the belated recognition of psychological damage such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) as compensable suffering. Terrorism exposes the innocence of the masses, who are now easy targets, in contrast to their traditional portrayal as an irrational threat. Literature, particularly the chronicles of Carrère and Haenel, responds to this with the utmost tact and empathy. The law evolves by recognizing and compensating for intimate experiences such as “the fear of death in the face of imminent danger” (angoisse de mort imminente) as a distinct category. Literature complements the law by... rightness seeks (accuracy/appropriateness) of the representation and gives the victims back their story.
This article establishes vulnerability as a key legal, political, and literary concept in dealing with terrorism and demonstrates the complementary relationship between law and literature in the recognition and Reparations of the damage caused.
Michael Rinn, La quête du mot juste dans les récits du terrorisme. The subject of the narrative sequence of the 2015 assassination
Rinn examines the “search for the right word” (“quête du mot juste”) in narratives from 2015, hypothesizing that the narrative structure of the 9/11 attacks served as a model. Terrorist acts initially lead to speechlessness and “sidération” (paralysis) in witnesses, characterized by confusion of categories of meaning and linguistic uncertainty. The narrative must overcome this paralysis in order to communicate the extreme experience. Rinn analyzes the narrative sequence of the moment of the attack (“basculement”) in works by Riss and Lançon. Riss uses in One minute quarante-neuf seconds Repetition and anaphora are used to depict the subjective stretching and dissolution of time. Lançon achieves a stylistic peace at the end of the sequence. The act of bearing witness affirms the physical, biographical identity of the "I," thus creating an act of resistance against the terrorist discourse that seeks to erase the victim's body and words.
This article offers a rhetorical and semiological analysis of traumatic narratives and their formal processing. It defines the constitution of a "topicon" (catalog of commonplaces) for extreme events, which makes it possible to name the unspeakable and to give meaning to the event, thus fueling literary and artistic creation.
Stéphane Hirschi, Dire qu'on ne dit pas: invention de forms retissantes d'Erwan Larher à Catherine Meurisse
Hirschi examines the works of two survivors, Erwan Larher (Le Livre que je ne voulais pas écrire) and Catherine Meurisse (Lightness), from the perspective of "retardation" (reluctance or resistance to simple testimony). Both works develop artistic "counter-narratives" ("contre-narration") and avoidance strategies. In her comic, Meurisse uses graphic breaks, anacoluthons, and the blurring of the lines between facts and mental images (e.g., The Scream by Munch or the sound tap tap tapLarher achieves distancing through metadiscourse, the play with pronouns (tu, je), and allography by inserting "Vu du dehors" chapters from outsiders (his loved ones) without directly naming them. These techniques of evasion and rewriting aim to free himself from the simple victim role and create his own artistic expression—a process that Hirschi describes as "Ré(s)ticence" or "Rétissance" (weaving/resistance of restraint).
This article focuses on the aesthetic and formal dimensions of trauma processing. It demonstrates how narrative fragmentation and self-reflection serve as conscious artistic strategies to process the non-integrability of the experience while simultaneously regaining the continuity of the self.
Lisa Romain, Khalil de Yasmina Khadra et Le Train d'Erlingen de Boualem Sansal…
Romain compares the novels of Yasmina Khadra (Khalil, about November 13, 2015) and Boualem Sansal (Le Train d'ErlingenBoth are important Francophone authors shaped by the Algerian "Black Decade." Both view the Paris attacks through the lens of their Algerian experiences, feeling pain for France but also resentment that their warnings were previously ignored. They employ strategies of distancing to critique French "Parisianocentrism" and a trivialization of Islamist terrorism. While Khadra chooses a linear narrative from the first-person perspective of a fictional, failed terrorist (Khalil), Sansal uses postmodern meta-fairytales and metaphors to express his aversion to the realistic portrayal of the terrorists. Romain observes that both novels exhibit a "certain reluctance" to directly appropriate the tragic real-life events of November 13 (despite their relevance). However, the event is interpreted not as a repetition but as a confirmation of their analyses, thus opening the door to hope for an end to the historical cycle and the establishment of a "chain of solidarity."
This article broadens the perspective on European terrorism through a postcolonial and geopolitical lens. It compares different ethical and aesthetic approaches to representing terrorists, which stem from a profound historical experience with political-religious violence.
Pierre Katzarov, La subjectivité du terroriste dans Khalil de Yasmina Khadra (2018) et Ours are the streets de Sunjeev Sahota (2011)
Katzarov analyzes the controversial narrative strategy of adopting the first-person perspective of the terrorist in Khadra's Khalil and Sahotas Ours Are the Streets (Regarding the London bombings of 2005). These novels explore the causes of radicalization in order to break through the silence and incomprehensibility of the perpetrators (as experienced in the V13 trial). Radicalization is portrayed as an understandable ideological trajectory linked to a postcolonial search for identity and familial deficits (problematic fathers). To avoid a moral trap and excessive identification, the authors employ distancing mechanisms: In Khalil This is achieved through the use of italics for jihadist rhetoric and through the moral counterpoint of the friend Rayan. Sahota utilizes the unreliability of the narrator and the paranoia or incipient delusion of the protagonist Imtiaz, as hinted at in the novel. Both novels end with the protagonists failing to carry out or refusing the actual act of killing.
This article examines the literary ethics of depicting evil. It concludes that these novels, by capturing terrorists on the brink of inhumanity, paradoxically serve as pretexts for reflecting on the "common" and the failure of community, far removed from psychopathological or simple sociological explanations.
Charlotte Lacoste, “A parait couillon mais je récite de la poésie”. Etude sur les pratiques littéraires post-assassinations
Lacoste uses textometric analysis of testimonies from the study 1000 The actual reading and writing practices of the population and survivors after November 13, 2015. Although the targets were non-literary in nature, reading increased, particularly of newspaper articles and testimonies (most frequently Antoine Leiris's Vous n'aurez pas ma haineLiterature fulfills various functions: apotropaic (protective, e.g., remembering Poe to ward off danger), prophetic (premonition of events), and therapeutic (alleviation of suffering, often poetry or works of hope such as...) Paris is a partyIt is striking, however, that many of those directly affected suffered from concentration difficulties and an inability to read. Many experienced a devaluation of "book knowledge" in the face of the violence they had witnessed firsthand. While some felt compelled to write, others refused to publish their accounts for fear of being accused of profiteering. The power of orality (spoken narratives, poetry recitation) gains importance in processing the trauma.
This article provides valuable empirical data on the reception and function of literature in post-traumatic everyday life. It reveals the limitations of written culture and emphasizes the therapeutic effectiveness of narration and orality as means of distraction and meaning-making after shock.
Alix Choinet, Après l'attentat: absence, presence and dialogues in les autobiographies and BD des survivants de l'attentat against Charlie Hebdo
Choinet analyzes four autobiographical works (BDs and memoirs) by Charlie Hebdo-Survivors (Luz, Meurisse, Lançon, Riss). The focus is on how the narratives illuminate the effects of trauma, particularly dissociation and non-integrated memory, through the blurring of the categories of presence and absence. Presence at the scene of the crime does not guarantee mental presence or coherent memory (Lançon, Riss), while absence (Meurisse, Luz) manifests the trauma of the shock's non-integration. The works establish dialogue as a central strategy for overcoming the isolating effect of trauma: dialogues between survivors, internal dialogues (Lançon as author vs. character), and dialogues with the dead (Lançon's "prière aux morts," Luz's conversation with Charb). These dialogues serve to break the silence and transform the experience from a unique to a shared one.
This article provides a detailed analysis of narrative strategies for coping with traumatic rupture. The function of dialogue is presented as essential for restoring narrative continuity and transcending silence.
Ève Morisi, Le temps retrouvé ? One minute quarante-neuf seconds de crack
Morisi analyzes Riss's autobiography One minute quarante-neuf secondsThe extremely short duration of the attack (1 minute 49 seconds) contrasts sharply with its monumental, traumatizing impact. The text employs discontinuity and chronological distortions (such as stretching time to "several eternities") to reflect the subjective processing of the shock. The attack leads to an existential split in which "before" had vanished. Riss uses literary devices to portray the attackers as depersonalized metaphors. Crucially, Riss engages in multidirectional memory work (Rothberg), connecting January 7, 2015, with diverse historical moments of organized political violence (the Algerian Civil War, Stalinism, collective massacres in Africa). This comprehensive historical embedding serves as a political and ethical framework that interprets the terrorist act as a "political crime" and contributes to the recovery of coherence and prospective memory (shaping the future).
Morisi demonstrates how an autobiographical narrative, through the artful linking of individual trauma and collective history, formulates a political standpoint and overcomes the destructive effect of trauma through a restored continuity of identity.
Henriette Korthal's Altes – V13: verse une justice transitionnelle et restorative?
Korthals Altes examines Emmanuel Carrère's chronicle V13 With regard to the ideal of “transitional and restorative justice,” the V13 trial, considered “historic” and “extraordinary” due to its logistical and moral dimensions, represented a collective attempt to confront the unspeakable through the judgment of history. Carrère describes the trial as a space that transcends mere criminal justice, giving voice and legitimacy to the victims. The chronicle captures moments of dialogue and resilience, particularly the desire of some victims to understand the perpetrators and reject hatred (such as George Salines and Nadia Mondeguer). The trial is interpreted as “immense psychotherapy” and “collective narrative” that contributed to the processing of grief and the redefinition of legal concepts (such as the “angoisse de la mort imminente”). Carrère’s work strives for a poetic justice that transforms suffering and carries memory beyond the conclusion of the legal proceedings.
The article underscores the role of literary court reporting as a site for the construction of memory and ethical reflection. It demonstrates how the trial and its literary treatment become a social space for mourning, dialogue, and collective healing, expanding the boundaries of traditional criminal justice.
Mounira Chatti, V13 d'Emmanuel Carrère. A "chronique judiciaire" deceptive?
Chatti offers a critical reading of Carrères V13Chatti, who judges the work as "disappointing" ("déceptive") despite its comprehensive ambitions, argues that while Carrère pursues the goal of a "collective narrative" and seeks justification, he criticizes the structural simplification of the trial into three hermetic parts (victim, defendant, court), which reduces ambiguities. Carrère's style is described as emphatic, at times narcissistic, and his reflections on the "sacred" character of the trial as superficial and philosophically immature. In particular, the lack of depth in the engagement with philosophical themes and the distortion of Arabic terms (such as "taqiyya" and "anakhid") by radical Islamism are criticized. Chatti argues that Carrère prioritizes the goal of constructing history and memory over the necessity of truly penetrating the complexity and disturbing issues of jihadism, thus limiting the critical scope of the work.
Chatti provides a necessary literary-critical meta-analysis of the courtroom chronicle genre. She raises the question of the author's ethical and intellectual legitimacy in depicting extreme events and whether the claim to achieve "justice in storytelling" goes hand in hand with literary self-restraint.
Ingvild Folkvord and Jean Lassègue, Réagir au terrorisme: les procès pour terrorisme au prisme de la littérature
Folkvord and Lassègue comparatively analyze literary responses to terrorism trials in Norway, France, and Germany to demonstrate how literature creates an extrajudicial space for addressing unresolved issues. The Norwegian example is Endre Ruset's poem Projectile (Regarding the 2011 Utøya attacks), transforms medical and legal reports into austere poetry that emphasizes the vulnerable sociality of the body through the monotonous depiction of projectile penetration, thus shifting the focus away from the perpetrator. Yannick Haenel's essay Notre solitude (on the Charlie HebdoThe play rejects the direct description of the violence from the courtroom videos, instead choosing amplification and mythic exaggeration (e.g., the witness Zarie Sibony as Persephone) and employs a magical writing ritual to bring the unspeakable back into language and make the dead present in the realm of the word. Kathrin Röggla's play Process (about the NSU trial in Germany) stages the inadequacies of the court proceedings themselves by focusing on the confused and stuck observers, and addresses the lack of recognition of the victims and the failure of state institutions.
This article highlights the specific literary competence of transforming legal material into alternative narrative forms to demand a higher form of justice. The comparative perspective demonstrates that literature represents a social means of restoring and reflecting upon community by continually re-examining the concepts of justice and injustice.
Conclusion
The special issue “Récits et Fictions du terrorisme” (Stories and Fictions of Terrorism) offers a remarkably multifaceted and interdisciplinary examination of the narrative processing of terrorism, particularly the 2015 attacks. A central finding is the necessity of narration in the face of the “sideration” (paralysis) and speechlessness that extreme violence induces. Literature is understood as a vital act of resistance against the annihilation of identity and the body by terrorism. At the same time, the contributions show that this imperative of narrative rarely results in a smooth, linear account. Instead, literary responses are characterized by formal experimentation and fragmentation (Hirschi, Rinn, Choinet), reflecting the psychological reality of the traumatization of autobiographical memory (Da Costa Silva et al.). Literary form serves as an aesthetic and cognitive strategy for processing the incoherence of lived experience.
A second focus is on the ethical examination of the perpetrators (Romain, Katzarov, Berset). The authors must find narrative means to portray radicalization as intelligible to depict socio-political and identity-based trajectories (Katzarov) without lapsing into moral justification or mythological simplification (Berset). The perspective of the “second hand” or the fictionalized approach makes it possible to reflect on the “common ground” and the deficiencies of society from which terrorism arises (Corbin, Katzarov). The Algerian authors (Romain) expand this debate by adding a crucial postcolonial and geopolitical dimension through their critique of Western narratives.
Thirdly, the contributions illuminate the complex relationship between literature, law, and memory. The court trial (V13) is not merely a legal process, but a social space for mourning and collective narrative. The literary chronicle (Korthals Altes, Chatti) and other genres (Folkvord and Lassègue) function as a “metajustice” that critiques the limitations and inadequacies of formal law in order to strive for a restorative justice that also acknowledges the deepest, most intimate wounds (such as the fear of death) (Baron).
The examination of vulnerability (Baron) and media filtering processes (Chagnoux) reveals how collective fears and societal values shape narratives. This special issue emphasizes that literature, whether through multidirectional memory work (Morsi) or simply through the acceptance of orality and the therapeutic power of words (Lacoste), fulfills an indispensable function in constructing meaning and coherence after the shock. Literature is thus not merely an aesthetic phenomenon, but a fundamental social space for coping with the unimaginable.
This article is written in German and can be found at https://rentree.de. Automatic translations into English and French are available. English, French.
